Fiery wreck kills 1, closes eastbound I-10

By Nolan Hicks :
July 27, 2012
: Updated: July 27, 2012 11:01pm

One person was killed in a three-vehicle wreck on the eastbound lanes of Interstate 10 Friday evening, about 20 miles east of San Antonio. The accident backed up traffic for about four miles.

The wreck happened when an 18-wheeler truck clipped a tow truck and pickup that were on the shoulder of the road. The tow truck driver, who had just finished replacing a tire on the pickup, was hit by the big rig and died at the scene.

Skid marks visible from the side of the road seem to indicate that the 18-wheeler then veered from the slow lane into the fast lane and into the freeway's median, near a bridge, where it later erupted into a fireball. The driver escaped without injury.

“Why he got hit, I don't know,” said Sgt. E.M. Conger, of the Bexar County Sheriff's Office, who added that both the tow truck and the pickup were well clear of the oncoming traffic.

Conger added that the driver of the tanker did not appear to be impaired.